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New research suggests that people who are regularly exposed to synthetic chemicals found in everyday household items are more likely to develop liver cancer.
Researchers at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine determined that an individual was 350% more likely to develop the disease if exposed to man-made “permanent” chemicals.Research published in JHEP Report was the first company to confirm the correlation using a human sample earlier this week.
“Forever” chemicals is a term used in reference to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer and industrial products. The chemicals are slowly broken down and embedded in human tissues, especially the liver.
“It builds on existing research, but goes a step further,” said Jesse Goodrich, a postdoctoral researcher at Keck College of Medicine. “Liver cancer is one of the most serious endpoints of liver disease and this is the first human study to show that his PFAS is associated with this disease.”
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The team was able to make the decision because it was given access to human samples from the Multiethnic Cohort Study, a database of over 200,000 residents in Los Angeles and Hawaii. They narrowed the sample size to his 100 study participants and analyzed blood and tissue samples from her 50 with the disease and from her 50 without cancer.
“One of the reasons there are so few studies in humans is the need for adequate samples,” says Professor Veronica Wendy Setiawan of Keck College of Medicine. “When you look at environmental exposures, you need samples from well before diagnosis because cancer takes time to develop,” she said.
Researchers found subjects were 4.5 times more likely to develop hepatocellular carcinomathe most common type of liver cancer if you are in the top 10% exposed to “permanently” chemicals compared to people with low levels of these chemicals in their blood.
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PFAS were first discovered in human blood in the 1970s and by the 1990s in blood samples from the general population. While some US manufacturers are working to phase out the use of these chemicals, PFAS are persistent substances that can break down in your water supply. These chemicals are believed to be present in the blood of more than 98% of US adults.
“We believe our study provides important insights into the long-term health effects of these chemicals on human health, particularly how they impair normal liver function. ,” said Dr. Leda Chatz, one of the study’s researchers. “This study fills an important gap in our understanding of the true consequences of exposure to these chemicals.”
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